In a Glass Cage
by Phoenix from the Sun
Summary: The boys had their nights together and the girls has theirs. But one day upon wanting to understand one another, nights combine and their lives are thrown into disarray.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **I do not own High School Muscial or any of its characters, Disney does. I also don't own _The Big Lebowski,_ _Annie Hall, The Nutty Professor, _or _The Da Vinci Code._

**Warnings:** In this chapter there is strong language, references to underaged drinking, and some references to sexual content. It is also during their senior year, but HSM 3 doesn't apply. There are also some errors, sorry about that.

**Summary:** The boys had their nights together and the girls has theirs. But one day upon wanting to understand one another, nights combine and their lives are thrown into disarray.

I got the title from the song "Rock n' Roll Gangsta" by Aalon, something that my sis **Martel29655** said would be a cool title.

* * *

Laughter filled the room, drowning out the quotes of the movie that the boys were watching. Sip upon sip of soda, they only laughed harder. Minute got progressively funnier, almost choking on the sausage pizza they were eating. Every time they watched _The Big Lebowski_, it only got better. They did this every weekend since the first basketball game the four of them played together, it had become a tradition, but even tradition had its downs.

It was another week at Troy's house, the house that everyone always wanted to skip over. Troy had a set of rules that no one else had. There was no drinking, not drugs, and no extreme messes. Every week that they went to Troy's house they were met with his porcelain good boy smile and a case of _refreshing cola_. Jason had once told Chad that he was surprised that it wasn't milk, which led into a conversation of how Troy kept his teeth so white when he took in so much sugar.

Every week they went to Troy's house, Jason and Zeke made a pact not to complain about the gummy worms and Coca-Cola instead of beer, but Chad never went in on the pact. They had a ritual at Troy's house. They would start to watch the movie and then Chad would complain to Troy would try to retaliate. Jason and Zeke tried to stay out of their fights unless they got ridiculous. One week Chad gave Troy a broken nose out of annoyance, Troy having to explain to his parents what had happened. This week was no different as the same pattern repeated itself, hopefully with less violence.

"Why can't we drink alcohol in your house?" Chad asked as he looked at Troy, an ounce of annoyance in his voice.

"We shouldn't be drinking anyway, we're not old enough," Troy answered as he took another sip of _refreshing cola_. "Also, if my parents found out I was drinking they'd _destroy_ me! You don't know you don't have the coach as your father."

Chad rolled his eyes as he looked down at his can of Coca-Cola. "We drink all the time at Jason's house."

"This isn't Jason's house!" Troy argued as he looked back on the screen.

"Stop up!" Jason shouted. "God, how can we enjoy the movie and our _refreshing cola_ if you two keep arguing through the whole night?"

"You know they always do this whenever we go to Troy's house," Zeke laughed as he took another sip from his can. "We come in and Troy brings out the soda and Chad gets upset because we should be drinking beer. Then we always miss all of the jokes in the movie and they just keep fighting."

"That's not how it happens," Chad explained as he paused the DVD.

"Dude, I was watching that!" Jason whined as he threw his left arm in the air at the paused screen.

"This is how it happens," Chad looked at Troy seeing him start to giggle. "What are you laughing about, Bolton?"

Troy put his soda down as he sat upright on the couch, his smile growing broader as he looked into Chad's eyes. "They're trying to say that you don't get upset that there's no alcohol, but here you are getting upset. Come on Chad! Don't you want to remember your youth?"

"Yes, I want to live it up so that when I'm fifty and can't drink anymore I can look back on these times and see how much fun I was," Chad walked closer to Troy. "You're a nothing but killjoy."

"Killjoy?" Troy laughed. "I'm not the one who has to be driving home tonight. I could drink all that I want without that consequence."

"Then why don't you?" Chad asked as he looked into Troy's eyes. "Let loose tonight."

"I don't intend on _letting loose_," Troy answered quickly. "You make dumb choices when you _let_ _loose_. I could wind up making out with Jason!"

Jason laughed as he heard those words. "Well you are pretty enough."

More laughter filled the room after the statement, Zeke remaining on the floor, doubling over as he was laughing so hard he couldn't breathe. Troy and Jason almost fell on each other as Troy muttered unintelligible words as if to answer what Jason had said, only to find his head on Jason's shoulder as he almost started coughing, Jason not able to breath, his face turning red. Chad stood in front of all of them, chuckling as he saw all of his friends smiling and laughing. He then moved back to the floor, sitting next to a panting Zeke, Troy coughing, and Jason wheezing breathlessly as the laughter finally stopped.

"This almost as funny as that time when Troy got that black eye!" Jason laughed as he tried to catch his breath.

"That wasn't funny!" Troy shook his head. "Nor was the broken nose. That's what I'm talking about! If that's what you're going to do to me when I'm sober, what are you going to do to me while I'm drunk Chad?"

"Hold your hair and clean up your vomit," Chad answered quickly with a straight face.

"Very funny…" Troy shook his head as he sank back into the couch. "You guys are real fucking assholes, you know that?"

They all started laughing again as they looked at Troy's face. "Dude, you should see your face. It's like an Abercrombie model in a screamo video!" Jason laughed. "You're pouting your lips and everything."

"This is what I'm talking about when I call you assholes," Troy shook his head as he looked at Jason who was still laughing. "It's not funny!" the room went silent for a split second. "It is kinda funny isn't it?"

"Yeah," Zeke laughed.

Chad looked at all of his friends having a good time, watching as Troy started laughing at himself. The happiness that was pulsating through them was contagious even as the comedy was turned off. Chad laughed to himself as he looked at Troy laughing, seeing the joy that was in his blue eyes as his lips curled into a smile. He shook his head as he tried to stay in the moment, Troy looking into his eyes.

"Well now that the movie is paused what do you guys want to talk about?" Chad asked as he looked at his friends. "Girls?"

Jason took a sip from his soda as he sat upright. "We can rate how hot they are?"

"Rating girls?" Troy asked, reverting back to his killjoy self. "Isn't that a little…"

"_Killjoy_, calm down, it's just all in fun," Chad looked into Troy's eyes. "Act your age in _human_ years not _dog_ years."

Troy scoffed before getting in on the fun. "Sharpay Evans," he looked around the room. "Scale of one to ten what do you give Sharpay Evans?"

Chad shook his head. "Like a four, bitch is crazy!"

"Nine," Jason breathed. "She might be crazy but she's also crazy hot!"

Zeke took a sip of his soda. "Ten, she's perfection."

"Yeah but after you have sex with her she's going to go mantis on your ass and bite off your head," Chad breathed as he looked at Zeke. "In my book _perfection_ doesn't mean you wake up without a head."

"What about you Troy? What do _you_ think of Sharpay?" Jason asked.

"I'd give her a seven," Troy answered, Chad almost spitting out his mouthful of soda. "What? She's kinda cute."

"So's a saber-tooth tiger, but I'm not going to try to get near it," Chad said almost choking as he heard that number. "A _seven_? What would you give Taylor?"

"I'm not going to rate your girlfriend, it's rude," Troy breathed as he took another drink of his soda, swallowing it quickly. "Six, she's too bossy for me."

"Five," Jason breathed. "She scares the shit out of me, man!"

"Unbelievable, none of you like my girlfriend?" Chad asked as he looked around the room. "She is a little bossy isn't she?"

"Yeah, _that's _a praying mantis," Zeke laughed.

Troy then started to chuckle at that, Jason laughing looked at Chad who was trying his hardest not to give in, but it was no use. These nights were always filled with laughter no matter what they said. They were nights that they were always going to remember each other by. As the laughter got louder and louder, Jason and Troy practically on top of each other, they turned the movie back on. They laughed so hard that they no longer needed the soda and pizza. It was too dangerous.

ooooo

The girls had their nights too, but less laughs were had. It had become a tradition for them to get together ever since they became friends and realized that their dates were to ended early so the boys could have their stupid nights together. The sat on Gabriella's bed eating marshmallows and Hersey bars, saying they didn't do what the boys did, not knowing that they were almost the same.

The girls gather around each other and had their own small giggles at the boys' expense talking about anything from how the boys kept leaving their dates early to how it was annoying how they kept quoting the movie to each other and how they were even thinking about bowling together.

"How would you rate Jason Cross?" Kelsi asked as she looked at the other girls. "A scale of one to ten."

"Four, lunk-head basketball man," Taylor answered.

"Oh and who's dating Chad Danforth?" Martha asked as she looked straight into Taylor's eyes. "Jason is funny and entertaining, not to mention so cute, so he's like an eight. Chad has nothing in his head, he's like a five."

"Come on Taylor, not _all_ basketball players can be that bad," Gabriella smiled.

"Why can't they? All they do is stay up until inappropriate time watching stupid movies while eating pizza and drinking beer. They've been doing that for months," she shook her head. "And they always watch the same movie. I mean how funny can _The Big Lebowski _honestly be? Is it like actual comedies like _Annie Hall _or stupid comedies like _The Nutty Professor_?"

"Troy hates _The Nutty Professor_," Gabriella answered.

"You're all missing my point, these boys don't have any taste if they have to keep watching the same movie," Taylor looked at Martha and then Kelsi. "All they do is rely on their good looks. Jason Cross, Zeke Baylor, Chad Danforth, and Troy Bolton are the hottest boys in the school, so they rely on that instead of actual brains."

That was the moment where they all got the idea that was to change their views on the boys for the rest of their lives. Everyone was getting sick of how Taylor put the boys down, even her own boyfriend, so Kelsi spoke up and gave them an idea that no one had expected out of her.

"Why don't we try to watch it?" Kelsi asked.

"I don't think Gabriella owns that movie," Taylor rolled her eyes.

"Actually, I _do_," Gabriella smiled.

"Troy?" Taylor asked.

"We bought each other our favorite movies, he gave me _The Big Lebowski_ and I gave him _The Da Vinci Code_," she went opened a drawer and pulled the movie out. "We want to get to know each other better. Come on, don't you guys want to know what these boys are watching."

"Come on, Taylor!" Martha begged. "You'll get to make fun of Chad for it."

A smile rolled across Taylor's face. "Let's watch it!"

They scrambled down the stairs as Gabriella held onto the DVD. They were going to go where no girl had gone before, into the mind of the starting line of the East High Wildcat Basketball team. They sat on the couch as all of them looked at the television as Gabriella popped the DVD in. As they started watching the beginning something was happening with them. Thoughts of the movie started coming out.

"This seems like a stupid movie. Look at me, I'm _The_ _Dude_," Taylor scoffed. "Stupid movie, if Chad were any dumber he'd be a table."

She reached for the remote and turned it off. "You didn't even give it a chance!" Martha gasped.

"I don't want to," Taylor walked toward the stairs. "Chad is an idiot if he thinks this funny."

As Taylor walked toward the stairs, Gabriella stood up to get the DVD. "I think I want to give the movie a chance. If Troy likes it, I want to see it."

ooooo

The boys all started leaving the house as Troy stood in the doorway. "Night Jason! Night Zeke! I'll see you on Monday!"

"Next week at my house!" Zeke cheered as he walked in front of Jason toward the car.

"Take care Bolton!" Jason called out as he walked toward the car, both of them getting in and driving away.

Troy turned to walk back into the house to see Chad in the doorway. They stopped for a few seconds as they looked at each other, Chad's smile growing broader as he watched Troy take a few steps back to the house, Chad staying in the doorway as they met face to face.

"It was fun right?" Troy asked as he looked into Chad's eyes, a small smile on his face. "You had fun?"

"Yeah, it was fun," he laughed quietly. "It's going to be more fun next week at Zeke's house. He'll let us drink in his house."

Troy giggled as he looked at his feet. "I'm not going to drink. It's not going to be fun if you have to clean up after me all night."

Chad remembered the nights when Troy did try to drink with them; he never took well to the alcohol. Those nights were filled with sobbing, harsh breathing, and groans of pain as they all had to work together to not only clean the house but to cover up that Troy was drinking. Chad smiled as he remembered those moments. Those were going to be the stories they told each other for years to come.

"Aw come on, _Lightweight_," Chad smiled.

"I preferred it when you called me Killjoy," Troy smiled back with a nervous laugh. "I'll see you on Monday," he moved forward to give Chad a quick hug, backing away with a smile. "Bye Chad."

Chad moved out of the way. "Bye Lightweight. See you on Monday."

Troy went back into the house with a smile. These nights were the nights when he felt the most alive. These were the nights that he never wanted to let go. He shut the door behind him as he laughed one last time looking at the mess that they had left behind.

"The host always has to clean," Troy sighed to himself.

These were the days that he never wanted to lose, but he knew all good things had to come to an end.

* * *

**AN: **This is to celebrate my four year anniversary which is tomorrow (writer since 3-21-05.) This is also my first High School Musical story so it might be a little rusty. The next chapter should be up soon.

Feel free to comment on anything, any comments you have would be helpful as long as you don't just say "it was bad"

In the next chapter the boys and the girls are going to talk to each other about the nights that they spent together. This is going to turn into a strong M rating later on.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **I do not own High School Muscial or any of its characters, Disney does. I also don't own _The Big Lebowski,_ _Annie Hall, Office Space, Mighty Aphrodite, Scent of a Woman, Shakespeare in Love, The Fabulous Baker Boys, _or any of _The Godfather_ movies_._

**Warnings:** In this chapter there is some language, references to underaged drinking, and references to sexual content. It is also during their senior year, but HSM 3 doesn't apply. There are also some errors that I most likely missed. They might also be out of character.

**Summary:** The boys had their nights together and the girls has theirs. But one day upon wanting to understand one another, nights combine and their lives are thrown into disarray.

* * *

Gabriella walked through the lunchroom seeing Troy at a table with Chad, Jason, and Zeke hearing Troy's laugh almost across the cafeteria. She saw as all of them were drinking cans of soda, eating nachos having a good time. She walked closer the table Troy's eyes meeting with hers. As she walked toward the table she remembered last night while she was trying to watch _The Big Lebowski_. She had always wanted Troy's friends to accept her, now was her chance to try.

"There you are," Troy smiled as she sat next to him. "I've been looking for you since before lunch."

She closed her eyes as she felt his lips on hers, her body freezing as she could feel his friends' eyes on her as his arm moved to wrap around her. Every time she would come over to sit with Troy, she could see the looks of disproval in their eyes. Jason and Zeke seemed overall supportive of Gabriella sitting with them, but as she looked at Chad she saw the same amount of annoyance with her as she had seen last year. As Chad looked at her, she knew he thought she was taking Troy away from him, slowly pulling him into a world where he didn't belong. She was never going to see joy in his eyes as he looked at her.

"What are you guys laughing about?" Gabriella asked as she looked around the table.

"Nothing much," Jason smiled. "Just our amazing Saturday night."

She smiled as she looked at Troy. "I had an amazing Saturday night with the girls as well."

"No doubt watching _Annie Hall_," Chad scoffed shaking his head. "You girls have no taste in movies. What's so funny about Woody Allen anyway? I think he's overrated."

"And Jeff Bridges isn't?" Taylor asked as she appeared out of almost nowhere, Kelsi and Martha in tow. "I watched the _Fabulous Baker Boys _with you, it was a stupid movie."

"But Michelle Pfeiffer sure was hot," Jason laughed looking up at Taylor's face, her stare possessing the ability to stop his laughter almost in an instant. "Sorry…"

"Well I watched _Mighty Aphrodite_ with you and that was also a stupid movie," Chad almost stood up out of his seat as he looked into Taylor's eyes, Troy sighing as he tried to focus on the nachos, trying to block them out.

"Mira Sorvino won an _Oscar_ for that!" Taylor yelled.

"A lot of stuff won Oscars that don't deserve it," Zeke entered the conversation not knowing the risk. "Al Pacino won an Oscar for _Scent of a Woman_. All he did was open his eyes really wide and say _hooah _as many times a possible. That's not acting. I didn't even believe he was blind."

Troy continued to shove nachos in his mouth as he watched all of them start having a conversation about movies. He didn't want to get involved. He knew the second that he said something; Taylor was going to destroy him. So he only looked on as Gabriella, Martha, and Kelsi joined the fight.

"Al Pacino is a _genius_," Martha scoffed.

"Please!" Zeke scoffed. "There were a lot of other actors that year that could have represented that award better."

"Didn't you like _The Godfather_ movies?" Martha asked.

"I fell asleep," Jason admitted.

"Fell asleep? During all three?" Martha asked. "How do you fall asleep to classic movies, Jason?"

"Maybe it's when they don't speak English!" Jason continued.

Troy felt like he was going to burst if he ate anymore nachos, the urge to vomit already rolling through his body as ran out of food to stuff in his mouth. He looked at all of the people sitting at the table; it was just like last night. Everyone would come together and all they would do was fight until the last minute. Chad had engaged Taylor in battle as Martha engaged Zeke and Jason, Kelsi and Gabriella were trying to stay out of it (smart girls.)

"You boys wouldn't know a good movie if it sat down and shared a beer with you," Taylor scoffed, staring directly into Chad's eyes.

"Why would a movie drink a beer?" Jason asked. "Movies don't have mouths…"

"Jason…" Troy breathed as if trying to keep him out of the fight.

"Well what do you think Troy?" Taylor asked as she looked at him. "Do you agree with them?"

"Think about what?" Troy asked as he saw all of the eyes on him. "Movies? Guys, we're fighting about movies we all have different taste in movies. If Jason can't stay awake during _The Godfather_, that's his own business. If Zeke hates _Scent of a Woman_, he's just expressing his opinion. And if Chad thinks _Mighty Aphrodite _is a stupid, who are we to judge him?"

"So you agree?" Chad asked.

"I refuse to get into this fight," Troy scoffed as he felt the urge to vomit continue to go through his body.

"You don't have any more food to stuff in your mouth," Chad noticed. "Tell Taylor that you think _Annie Hall_ and _Mighty Aphrodite_ are stupid movies."

Gabriella sat up to save Troy's life in this bloody war. "Why put movies down when we can talk about movies that we like? I mean come on guys, why can't we all just be friends and talk about friend things like how our weekends were, tests, gossip, and interests?"

"Because lunch is only fun if Taylor gets to make Danforth look like a dick!" Jason laughed as he took a sip of his soda.

Taylor sat down next to Chad and looked away from him. "Did you ever think that we want to go to one of your movies nights?"

"Why would you want to go?" Chad asked. "You don't want to watch _The Big Lebowski_."

"_The Big Lebowski_," Taylor scoffed. "I'm sorry, but why exactly do you guys like that movie so much?"

Jason laughed as he looked at the look on Troy's face seeing him finally want to get into the conversation. "Story time!"

Troy sat up as he looked at Taylor. "One day after a game, a _huge_ victory for the Wildcats, the four of us decide to go over to Chad's house to celebrate. It was a big night full of beer and pizza…" he looked over at Chad seeing him smile. "But that wasn't enough, after an hour of eating pizza we realized we were in the mood for a movie. A funny movie, so we go through Chad's DVD collection and we see _Office Space_ and a lot of other comedies, but that's when we found it…"

"_The Big Lebowski,_" Jason smiled as he finished Troy's sentence.

"Chad and I used to watch _The_ _Big Lebowski_ all the time in middle school so we knew it was entertaining. It was the most fun we had all had together in our lives. So now every Saturday we get together and we watch the same movie," Troy smiled as he looked at the smile on Chad's face light up as he gazed at Taylor. "It's become a tradition

"Why don't you change it up?" Kelsi asked.

"We do," Chad answered abruptly as he looked at Kelsi. "We have a rotation where we go to all of our houses. We start at mine, then Jason's, then Troy's, then Zeke's. That's switching it up."

Taylor shook her head. "That sounds really stupid."

"Tell that to the basketball team. It's become a rite of passage, you can't put on the Wildcat basketball uniform without watching it and _liking_ it," Chad smiled as he looked into Taylor's eyes, Troy freezing in place. "You could never be on the team with that attitude."

That moment, Troy wished that he had left the lunchroom, he wished that he had given into Sharpay and gone over and sat with her. As he looked at the looks that Taylor and Chad were exchanging he knew nothing good was going to come of this conversation. He took a sip of his soda as he debated whether to leave or not, the rest of the lunchroom fading into the darkness as the bloodlust between Chad and Taylor only grew thicker. He slowly started to move away from the table, only to feel Jason grasp his arm tightly keeping him in place, shaking his head as if trying to say "you don't want to do that, man." Troy looked at the two of them, their staring contest not ending, a feeling of unease surrounding the table.

"I wouldn't want to be on your team, watching the same movie over and over again doesn't really appeal to me," Taylor scoffed as she looked into Chad's eyes, Troy fighting from Jason's inescapable grasp on his wrist. "I mean I guess if you put all of you together you get an average intelligence, so I shouldn't blame you for being this stupid."

Troy pulled harsher away from Jason's hand trying to leave. "I just remembered I have to see coach about something."

"He's your dad, you can tell the coach later," Jason whispered through clenched teeth. "You don't want to walk away from this. We can't leave Danforth alone. She'll eat him alive."

Chad had a malicious grin on his face. "You wouldn't even be able to sit through that movie without hating it."

"How about we make a little wager on that," Taylor's grin matched Chad's. "If you watch a movie of _my_ choice and I'll watch your movie."

"Alright, but if you don't like it you'll have to do whatever _I_ want," he smiled wickedly.

"Oooooh," Zeke and Jason said simultaneously as they looked at Taylor, Troy shaking his head, he knew what Chad was talking about.

"Not cool, man," Troy scoffed.

Taylor smiled back as she watched the boys' reactions. "And if you don't like my movie you have to do what _I_ want."

"Oooooh," Martha and Kelsi mocked Jason and Zeke, as Gabriella just giggled.

"Not cool," Troy repeated.

"And I want you to watch _Shakespeare in Love_," Taylor smiled. "Your ass is mine, _Danforth_."

Chad chuckled. "No, your ass is mine, _McKessie_."

Troy shook his head as he looked at the two of them. "Guys…"

"Stay out of this, Bolton! This is between Taylor and me," Chad interrupted, not taking his eyes off of Taylor. "I guess I have Sunday to look forward to. After all I did manage to get through _Annie Hall_. I can pretend that this movie is actually good."

Troy closed his eyes as he thought about the situation, looking at Gabriella, the two of them exchanging worried looks. He could see the fear in her eyes as clear as she could see his. Both of them knew that this was going to end poorly for their friends, but Chad and Taylor were too headstrong to listen to them. Troy groaned as he looked at Chad who had a broad smile on his face, this was going to be hell. He looked at the clock and saw that lunch was almost over; there was still time to talk him out of it.

As the bell rang all of them stood up, Jason and Zeke taking the trash away as the girls started to walk to the door, Martha and Kelsi gossiping with Taylor as Gabriella looked back at Troy with a sorrowful look, it was up to them to save their friends. It was always like this. Knowing that, Troy moved to Chad's side asking him a question he wanted to ask him all period.

"Are you nuts? You just propositioned your girlfriend!" Troy yelled as people filtered out of the room. "She's going to castrate you if you ask her for that!"

Chad shook his head. "Relax, you know that we're both going to like the movies we watch," he looked into Troy's eyes. "You're into theater, right? Is Shakespeare that bad?"

"For the love of God, we read him freshman year, Chad!" Troy explained.

"_You _read it, _I_ didn't read shit!" Chad shook his head. "I was so concerned on things that actually matter, I forgot about shit that doesn't. Shakespeare _is_ in this movie, right?"

"It's called _Shakespeare in Love_," that answer wasn't good enough for Chad as he kept eye contact with Troy. "That means yes. Alright, we'll just have to look up a summary of the movie online and then see if it seems interesting, if not, I guess you're going to have to be Taylor's slave."

They kept walking as they moved through the door on the way to Troy's locker. But Chad kept talking. Troy knew the idea was going to burst in his face, he knew that he was going to lose this bet. Chad was screwed over, and Troy was the only one who was going to save him. As he stood in front of his locker, he looked over at Chad.

"You can come over to my house tonight and we can discuss our plan of action," he moved to open his locker shuffling through books to find the ones that he needed. "You know you can't do this alone."

"I always said you were the brains of this outfit," Chad smiled.

"I thought I was the good looks," Troy smiled as he closed his locker. "You're just the one who can't keep his mouth shut. Now if you want to do whatever disgusting thing you're trying to do…"

"Sex isn't disgusting. It's _beautiful._"

"Not when you decide to do it because your girlfriend can't stand Jeff Bridges. If Gabriella made me have sex with her just because of some twisted game I wouldn't know what to do," Troy shook his head as he kept his eyes forward. "I'm going to help you not get publicly humiliated; I'm not helping you get laid. I don't intend on ever helping in that department."

"Not directly anyway," Chad breathed as leaned up against the lockers, looking at Troy seeing him shake his head as he looked at him. "I really appreciate everything that you do for me, Troy. You know that right?"

"Not really," Troy answered as he started to walk away, not looking at Chad.

"Come on! You know I care for you."

"I would hate to see how you treat people you _don't_ care about," Troy scoffed as he walked down the hall. "I better like this movie or I'm going to kill you. The last thing I want to do is spend the weekend watching a crappy movie just because you want to get laid."

Chad walked by his side, Troy looking at his shoes. No matter how many times he tried to talk Chad out of these situations he never could. Ever since childhood, Troy was the one who never took risks, thinking of how his father would destroy him if he found out about any wrong choices he made. Chad didn't have that fear; his father could destroy him all he wanted, that didn't stop Chad. Chad Danforth wanted to remember his youth the way it should be remembered with all of the beer, girls, and fun he could partake in. He was always a step ahead of Troy, but Troy was always there to pull him back when he was going to fast. Right now Chad was running too far and Troy was out of breath, panting on the sideline.

He took a deep breath as he thought about the weekend; it was something that he was going to dread, every time he looked at a clock he would think of the weekend that he had ahead of him. His life was starting to really suck.

"You'll love the movie, after all you're into all that homosexual theater shit," Chad smiled.

"Don't call it that, you've never tried it. And if I'm so _unbelievably_ gay then how come I'm having better luck with my girlfriend?" Troy laughed.

"Because you have the better face," Chad laughed as he looked at his feet. "Tonight's going to be fun right?"

"I guess," Troy shrugged. This wasn't going to be fun.

ooooo

"Gabriella!" Jason called out as he ran after Gabriella who was on her way to class. "Gabriella, wait!"

She turned with a look of surprise on her face. "Jason? What are you doing here?"

He took a deep breath as he looked into her eyes, a smile rolling across her face as he tried to speak to her. "I have no idea what _Shakespeare in Love _is about. I was hoping you could help me cheat so that I don't look like a complete idiot in front of the guys."

Gabriella smiled as she started walking down the hall, Jason walking beside her. Eyes fell upon them as they walked down the hall, all of the whispering to each other as they thought of the worst. Gabriella Montez, the girlfriend of the most popular boy in school was walking down the hall with one of his closest friends. They were all whispering wondering if she was flirting with him. She ignored them and kept walking.

"You guys are actually taking this seriously?" Gabriella asked.

"Zeke and I are," Jason smiled. "Chad and Taylor are nothing but dangers to themselves; they're going to hurt each other. And Troy is too busy trying to talk Chad out of it," he shook his head. "If we enjoy it, Chad will follow suit, he'll like it too. We can control this bet in our favor, Gabriella."

"You can't guarantee he'll like it."

"Chad Danforth likes whatever his friends like. If Troy, Zeke, and I enjoy it, he will too. He hates being the odd man out," Jason explained. "You have to help me Gabriella; you're the only one who will. Kelsi and Martha no doubt want to watch us crash and burn and I don't know any other girls who are as understanding as you. I thought that if you help me enjoy _Shakespeare in Love_, I can help you guys enjoy _The Big Lebowski_. I don't even want to know what sick shit Danforth is going to try on Taylor."

"Why are you being so nice to us?" Gabriella asked. "Taylor says that all you are the same and if Chad is thinking that, then you…"

"I'm not like Chad. Not to mention, she's Chad's girl and you're Troy's girl, I could never hurt my friends like that," Jason explained as he kept walking by her side. "So do we have deal?"

Gabriella closed her eyes as she looked away from Jason. Jason Cross never seemed like the type who would come up to talk to her, it was highly suspect. Yet as he remembered the tone in his voice, she knew that he wasn't trying to hurt her, he was trying to save Taylor from whatever Chad had planned. She looked into her eyes as she suddenly felt that the scales were going to tip in their favor.

"Alright, but don't screw me over," Gabriella smiled.

"As long as you don't screw me over," Jason smiled back. "I'll meet up with you later this week, alright. Is Wednesday after school okay?"

"Yeah," she smiled as she made the deal with Jason, watching him walk away. She couldn't tell Troy.

* * *

**AN:** The ending is going to bring up a lot of concern for the next couple of chapters as Jason and Gabriella go out together (which is featured in the next chapter.) The next chapter will also feature Troy and Chad trying to find a way to win at the game that Taylor set them up for. Something shocking is going to happen next chapter.

Tell me what you think in a review.

Also, I'm sorry if some of my views on these movies offend people, they are not all my opinion, some of them are opinions of people close to me (I was inspired a lot by my family for some of the views on movies such as _Scent of a Woman_) but I have ot admit: I can't stay awake during _The Godfather_!


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